1366x768 is a blasphemy before the machine god; but an actually-not-dreadful-quality screen for under $300 is news indeed(especially when 1366x768 of the lowest quality possible smeared across 15 inches is par for the course at that price point..

I am not sure about Chromebooks yet, privacy and security-wise. I need to do more in-depth look but my surface scan so far says that Chromebooks are basically 'cloud' machines, and I'm not comfortable with using the cloud for client files.

beschizza
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2013-10-09T03:30:14Z —
#7

Yeah, Chromebooks are basically "just get some email and stuff done" machines that won't get bogged down by malware, user error, etc., but are easier to get typey-typey work done on than tablets. Perfect gifts for college kids and emaily grandparents, but not a geek's main machine.

fuzzyfungus
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2013-10-09T03:41:20Z —
#8

thaum said:

It's IPS, not TN, which changes things.

That was the 'actually-not-dreadful-quality' I was referring to. It'll still have pixels large enough to cut your wrists with; but at least the color won't be shot to hell if you turn your head a few degrees.

fuzzyfungus
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2013-10-09T03:43:17Z —
#9

beschizza said:

not a geek's main machine.

Though, with a (vendor supported; but non-default) bypass option, you can run arbitrary linuxes on them, and since ChromeOS is a linux kernel underneath, you have a better-than-average shot at getting things to actually work. Won't make the machine any punchier; but it does increase the geek appeal.

EcholocateChoco
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2013-10-09T05:03:36Z —
#10

I love how this looks. I'm actually hoping the plastic iPhone takes off in a big way, so Apple takes its design cues for the next Macbook Air from that instead. Never was a fan of the metal look.

macadamia_nuts
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2013-10-09T05:19:01Z —
#11

Wow, that street price is estimated down to the cent!

hogan44
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2013-10-09T05:28:21Z —
#12

looks like a clone of the old white MacBooks.

lhl
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2013-10-09T08:13:43Z —
#14

fuzzyfungus said:

beschizza said:not a geek's main machine.

Though, with a (vendor supported; but non-default) bypass option, you can run arbitrary linuxes on them, and since ChromeOS is a linux kernel underneath, you have a better-than-average shot at getting things to actually work. Won't make the machine any punchier; but it does increase the geek appeal.

Having auditioned the Samsung ARM Chromebook (very similar hardware, the HP uses the same Exynos SoC) as a dev notebook, I have to say pressing Ctrl-D every time you boot gets pretty old pretty fast. This is exacerbated by poor power management. Also, I wouldn't make too many assumptions about how well things might work - setting up the 3G data was a pain and the trackpad was super-fussy running native Ubuntu/Chrubuntu.

Most devs that use Chromebooks for development either end up using the Crouton chroot or running everything remote, but I've found both options less than satisfying and missing some basic affordances, like a working clipboards, launchers, or a modern terminal app. It'll get you there, but it won't be pleasant.

It looks like the HP's screen is better (the Samsung's TN is pretty terrible), but I'm still disappointed the these low-power ARM laptops have such crappy batteries/battery-life.

As a developer, your best bet for an ultraportable is probably still a MBA on OSX or something like the Developer Edition XPS for Linux. These are about $1000 more expensive, but provide a whole different level end-user experience.

Daemonworks
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2013-10-09T08:17:07Z —
#15

Umm.. no. Most college kids do need to use real software.

SomeDude
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2013-10-09T14:11:02Z —
#16

Generally seconded. I too installed chrubuntu on the samsung exynos, and I never did get the mouse to behave. (That was six months ago and the process may have evolved to something better by now but I have no recent direct experience.)

But I reverted it to its stock os and I'm happy with the purchase. I bought it for my 7th grade daughter (the chrubuntu install was just an experiment), and it's perfect for her, both in capabilities and in that I won't have to agonize financially if/when she comes home one day with it having been crushed in the locker room somehow.

Daneyul
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2013-10-09T16:24:11Z —
#17

I have a Samsung series 3. The display is absolutely fine for what I use it for--web browsing, web mail, google docs. Lightweight with a full keyboard and $230.00--it's the perfect portable for the things I use a laptop for.

The one complaint I have is the non-standard charger. To me, that's the killer feature of the HP, not the improved display. I would LOVE to stop schlepping around yet another charger.

SamSam
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2013-10-09T19:35:24Z —
#18

"Most" implies above 50%, and unless we know exact numbers, we might not want to use that.

But lots of college students major in the humanities, where they can probably get by with a good online reference manager (and there are some very good ones) and Google Docs or some other online applications for their essays.

Lots of other major in econ, and they can probably get by with aforesaid reference manager and good spreadsheets, presentation tools, and other online stuff.

It's not all top-of-the-line, but even ten years ago when I went to school many students relied on the lab computers if they needed access to any special software or better computing power.

Maya
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2013-10-10T01:43:29Z —
#19

Nah, I managed with my Chromebook (the macbook air knockoff one) just fine. Honestly, it was just a matter of finding online utilities--there isn't much college students use pirated copies of Photoshop for that Pixlr can't handle, for instance. I will say, however, that if OnLive could hook into Chrome it would be a million times better. Also if Google Music didn't not have a ChromeOS client. But other than that, I didn't have problems.

SteveHanso
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2013-10-10T03:04:09Z —
#20

I bought a Samsung Chromebook earlier this year. I like it plenty, except that if you need a specialized program, like Arduino IDE, you are out of luck unless you boot into linux. But I do have to say that the cloud has saved my ass more than once, thanks to a child spilling a drink onto it while it was charging. It didn't work until it was dry, but it managed to recover just fine. Unfortunately I think that there is a enough corrosion somewhere such that the video memory or gpu is losing power when I load heavy websites.

beschizza
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2013-10-14T02:28:36Z —
#21

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